My son, Joseph, died on May 26, 2005 after one hour on earth. This blog helped me sort through my feelings and prepare for his sister, Eleanor Grace, born in July 2006. Here's the ongoing saga of learning to parent after a loss.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

I'm about to leave for my first prenatal appointment with Dr. R. She had said when I first met her that she might try to hear the heartbeat at this visit, but at 9w4d I think it might be too early. It sure would be nice, though. I'd hate to have a visit go by with no reassurance that everything's OK in there.

Wish me luck!

Update: Yay for a boringly normal appointment! Have I mentioned how much I love these doctors? I had a long intake session with the nurse, who answered all my questions thoroughly; then she tried to hear the heartbeat with the doppler. She tried for a long time and wasn't getting anything, but she had reassured me that it might be too early. Strangely, I wasn't really nervous. After about five minutes she gave up and said that Dr. R would try again when she came in.

Dr. R came in and did all the normal poking and prodding and said that my uterus was perfectly on track size-wise. Then she, too, tried the doppler, and after about five minutes of pressing hard, she found the heartbeat. It was hard for me to hear at first - definitely not the clear, loud, "whoof-whoof-whoof" I was used to hearing with Joseph - but she said that was because it was early. She estimated the rate at 160 and said that was great.

In two weeks I go back for the Early Risk Assessment, which is a blood test combined with that new nuchal translucency ultrasound. I'm looking forward to getting another look at the Pad. Other than that, though, Dr. R. says I can be on the normal prenatal visit schedule, so my next "real" visit is in four weeks.